SPECIAL TAX WOULD AID JUVENILES SUICIDES ADD POWER TO PUSH FOR PROGRAM

One out of 10 Florida juveniles who committed suicide last year was from Palm Beach County.

Many were on waiting lists for mental health services. More than half of all youngsters on those lists committed felonies. Of Florida runaways who were housed with delinquents because of lack of other resources, one in four was from the county.

"I could go on and on," said Elaine Webb Alvarez, coordinator of a newly formed campaign that is pushing to create a taxing district to raise money for juvenile services from Jupiter to Boca Raton.

Alvarez and county officials who support the drive hope to turn some of those bleak numbers around. The County Commission, which tentatively agreed to place the issue on the Nov. 4 ballot, is set Tuesday to give final approval.

Voters would be asked to decide whether to create an independent district to provide a range of juvenile services by levying up to one-half mill in additional property taxes.

Earlier this year, the Florida Legislature authorized each county to create such a system, and a Juvenile Welfare Board to oversee the operation. In this area, said Alvarez, the board would be named the Children's Services Council of Palm Beach County.

Pinellas County created such a district in the early 1940s, the only one of its kind in the United States so far. With the new law in place, Palm Beach, Sarasota and Polk counties have given preliminary approval to November referendums.

"I had the experience of seeing (the tax revenues) make a difference in preventing child delinquency because neglect or abuse had been prevented," said Edith Hoppe, the former administrator of state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services in Pinellas and Pasco counties.

"We were able to directly help families who had children at risk . . . so we didn't have to wait until a child was in trouble with the law," said Hoppe, for the past year administrator of the HRS district that includes Palm Beach County.

The only programs the district will not be allowed to finance are those run solely by the county's School Board.

Otherwise, funding options are limitless, including help for existing programs, the creation of new ones and support for others that may already receive government money.

"Because of deficiencies in state funding and federal cutbacks, it's imperative for us to meet a need that is growing daily for children's services," said Alvarez, who is president of the county's Child Advocacy Board.

"This local board would allow us to respond to our local needs rather than spending years and years lobbying in Tallahassee and Washington," she said. "Obviously, children can't lobby for themselves and this independent council will be able to address those needs."

The Children's Services Council would include the schools superintendent, a school board member, HRS's district administrator, a county commissioner and five members appointed by the governor, according to a proposed ordinance detailing the system.

"They'll be local people, probably parents, those who would have a direct affect on the target (juvenile) population," said Bill Broughton, another former Pinellas County resident, who lobbied for the legislation this spring as Palm Beach County's intergovernmental affairs director.

If the county levied the maximum tax, it could generate between $16 million and $18 million, said Alvarez. But the Pinellas district usually levied just a quarter-mill, as officials here would probably do, collecting between $8 million and $9 million, she said.

"We are spending taxpayers' money, and we want to start slowly," said Alvarez, who lobbied for the legislation with Broughton and County Commissioner Ken Spillias. The county's Crime Prevention Council, headed by Commissioner Dorothy Wilken, endorsed the bill.

If a referendum passes, the tax would not be levied until 1987.

"We would take the year to study and assess our needs," Alvarez said, "so we could have a comprehensive game plan in place."

But even now, said Alvarez, who also serves as vice president of HRS' Child Protection Team, numerous youth services are crying out for help.

"We have waiting lists in Palm Beach County for families who need subsidized day care so they can go out and get training so they can get a job," she said.

Also badly lacking, said Alvarez, are substance-abuse prevention programs, drug and alcohol treatment centers, and slots for young abusers at existing centers.

In addition, she said, the county lacks sufficient rehabilitative services for juvenile delinquents, and support programs for so-called status offenders, which include truants and runaways.

"We are very short with programs for handicapped preschoolers," Alvarez added. "And we have severe problems with the availability of prenatal care for indigent women. We're trying to take steps and make inroads.

"But we don't have a facility that would treat a pregnant woman if she's hooked on drugs or alcohol, and as a result we're seeing a large number of fetal alcohol syndrome babies and cocaine babies," said Alvarez, who calls the problem a national crisis.

Victims of fetal alcohol syndrome are born to mothers who drink during pregnancy. The infants are characterized by small weight and size, abnormalities and damage to the central nervous system.

The depth of local need can be blamed most of all on lack of state money, she said. Florida ranks 52 -- after the other states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico -- in the amount of money it spends per person on adult and children services, according to 1985 figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

In light of the insufficiencies, supporters pushed eagerly for the taxing district legislation during the most recent session.

"If we waited two years (for the next general election)," said Alvarez, "how many children would we lose?"

The proposed system, noted lobbyist Broughton, is not aimed just at the needy.

"It's for all children," he said, "and by implication that means it's providing services for the entire family."

Pinellas can serve as a stellar example, said Broughton, who was a lobbyist for the city of St. Petersburg.

"The Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County has been universally approved," he said. "No one doesn't like it. Federal authorities, courts, the county, HRS, and most of all, parents, kids and voters like it."